Tehran to Use Its Pyongyang Ties to Help Inter-Korean Reconciliation: Speaker

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Thursday that Tehran will seek to use its ties with North Korea to help improve inter-Korean relations for a "peaceful and political" solution.

"We believe we should make use of our bilateral relations (between Tehran and Pyongyang) in order to resolve the problems. If it is possible for us, we will explore our capacity and capabilities in order to improve the relations between the two Koreas," Larijani told Seoul-based reporters on Thursday.

"(Military) actions would create military confrontations. ... Instead, we should develop and promote political discussions," he added, noting Tehran's foreign policy is based on the peaceful resolution of any external problems, Yonhap news agency reported.

Larijani was visiting Seoul to attend the Meeting of Speakers of Eurasian Countries' Parliaments that ended Wednesday. The conference on cooperation for shared prosperity was jointly hosted by South Korea's parliament and the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's legislature.

Asked to comment on the upcoming summit between South Korean President Moon and his US counterpart Donald Trump, the senior Iranian official called for consistency in US foreign policy, indicating that Washington has oscillated between its two Middle East partners now in a diplomatic crisis -- Saudi Arabia and Qatar -- to advance its economic interests.

"While Saudi Arabia imposes some sanctions against Qatar, on those days, the US stood behind Saudi Arabia. But when they finalized a very big agreement on F-16 aircraft with Qatar, they changed their own policy," he said.

"I believe it is not suitable for the foreign policy of a country to be done in the form of some business transactions. Of course, it is not becoming of the dignity of the US," he added.

Touching on the relationship between Iran and North Korea, Larijani said the two countries now have "some regular" relations but do not have any significant trade ties.